Dr Kate Stafford, Senior Oceanographer

Affiliation

Contact Details

Research Interests

My research focuses on the use of acoustic methods to study the ecology and phenology of large whales around the globe. I have used acoustic methods to study blue whale populations world-wide; my dissertation examined the geographic and seasonal variation and occurrence of blue whales in the North Pacific using passive acoustic methods. Most recently, my work has been focused on the Arctic in order to determine how climate change is influencing the occurrence of both Arctic endemic and sub-Arctic species and how the underwater soundscape is changing on biological, natural and anthropogenic fronts. The tools developed for the Arctic are readily ported to the Antarctic. My interest in the IWC-SORP Acoustic Trends Steering Group (ATG) arises from my early work on blue whales and the desire to use acoustic data to better understand the current distribution of both blue and fin whales in the Southern Hemisphere. The combined expertise of the ATG allows for the development of tools to efficiently and robustly analyse many terabytes of data to form a more complete understanding of the acoustic ecology of the Southern Ocean. Further, the ATG provides an unprecedented venue for training, and entraining, researchers from Southern Hemisphere countries in the use of passive acoustic methodologies to better understand the power of such methods in answering ecological questions.